What is an exposure control plan for bloodborne pathogens?

An exposure control plan is the employer’s written program that outlines the protective measures an employer will take to eliminate or minimize employee exposure to blood and other potentially infectious materials.

The exposure control plan must contain, at a minimum:

• The exposure determination which identifies job classifications with occupational exposure and tasks and procedures where there is occupational exposure and that are performed by employees in job classifications in which some employees have occupational exposure.
• The procedures for evaluating the circumstances surrounding exposure incidents.
• A schedule of how other provisions of the standard are implemented, including methods of compliance, HIV and HBV research laboratories and production facilities requirements, hepatitis B vaccination and post-exposure evaluation and follow-up, communication of hazards to employees, and recordkeeping.

Methods of compliance include:

• Universal Precautions;
• Engineering and work practice controls (e.g., safer medical devices, sharps disposal containers, hand hygiene);
• Personal protective equipment; and
• Housekeeping, including decontamination procedures and removal of regulated waste.

The plan must also include documentation of:

• The annual consideration and implementation of appropriate commercially available and effective safer medical devices designed to eliminate or minimize occupational exposure; and
• The solicitation of non-managerial healthcare workers (who are responsible for direct patient care and are potentially exposed to injuries from contaminated sharps) in the identification, evaluation, and selection of effective engineering and work practice controls.